Red Cord of Salvation

Monday:	Red Cord of Salvation
Story Passages:	Joshua 2, Joshua 6
Other Passages:	Ephesians 2:8-9
Objective:	Children should learn that Rahab was saved because she believed in God, and we are saved the same way.
Memory Verse:	Ephesians 2:8-9, For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves; it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast.
Visuals:	Available

Introduction: Background

Boy, have we got a story about soldiers for you today! Would you believe that a group of soldiers once knocked down an entire city without even swinging a sword? Actually, the soldiers didn't do it at all: God knocked the city down, but the people of Israel were following God and trusting in him to win the battle. Today's story comes from the book of Joshua. God had promised the people of Israel a land where they could live, that would be their own home. But they had to kick out the evil Canaanites who lived there, before they could really own the land.

Story: Rahab and Jericho

Jericho was one of the big cities of the Canaanites, so the people of Israel sent two spies to look over the city, before they went to take it over. While the spies were looking at the city, their cover was blown – they got found out, but a woman named Rahab hid them and helped them escape. Rahab told the spies that she had heard about their God, and how he saved the people of Israel when they crossed the Red Sea. She knew that God was real, and very powerful, and she wanted to be on his side. Because Rahab helped the two spies, they promised her that she and her family would be saved when the Israelites came to conquer the city. They told her to hang a red rope from her window, and gather all of her family in her house, and anyone in her house would be saved. She hung up the red rope right away.

After the spies came back from Jericho to the camp, God told the people of Israel how they were supposed to take the city: they should march around the city quietly once a day for six days, and then on the seventh day they should march around the city seven times, with seven priests blowing trumpets, and then the last time the priests would sound a loud blast on the trumpets, and the people would all shout, and the city walls would just fall down. Then they could take the city with the sword and destroy everything.

So that's just what they did. They followed God's instructions, and all the walls fell down except at Rahab's house. Then the Israelites took over the city and destroyed the evil Canaanites, but the two spies went in and brought out Rahab, and her family and took them to safety, and Rahab lived with the Israelites from then on.

Application: Salvation

Why did Rahab tie a red cord on her window? (Accept answers.) Was the cord able to keep her house from falling down when the rest of the city fell? Was the cord that strong? It wasn't the cord that did that, was it? It was God. The cord wasn't strong enough – it wasn't magic. But the cord showed that Rahab was willing to follow the instructions. It showed that she believed in the God of Israel and trusted that she would be saved when her town was destroyed.

We can be saved on the day of destruction too, and we are saved the same way as Rahab: there is nothing we can do to save ourselves, but if we believe in God and trust in him, the blood of Jesus will wash away our sins and we will be saved.

Invitation: Salvation

Invite any children who want to show, as Rahab did, that they believe in God to stay after the lesson and discuss it further.

Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.